FREDERICK, Md.--Junior Jesse Gutekunst scored 29 points and tied
his own school record with 22 rebounds to power the top-seeded Hood
College men's basketball to a 92-76 victory over fifth-seeded St.
Mary's College (Md.) Thursday in the semifinals of the Capital
Athletic Conference tournament at Gov. Thomas Johnson High School.
Hood (21-6, 12-4 CAC) advances to the championship game of the
CAC tournament and will face defending league champion and No. 2
seed Catholic University Saturday at 7 p.m. at Gov. Thomas Johnson
High School. Hood, in its first season in the CAC, has now won five
in a row and improves to 11-1 at home.
The Blazers trailed early but used a three-pointer by Gutekunst
at the top of the key to snap a 13-13 tie at the 12:42 mark. The
lead changed hands six more times and there were five ties in the
stanza but the Blazers scored eight unanswered points over a span
of 2:25 to take a 40-32 lead. St. Mary's Tyson Lesesne swished a
half-court shot just before the buzzer to make it 40-35 at
halftime.
Gutekunst tallied 19 points and pulled down 16 rebounds in the
first half. The 6-8 center single-handedly outrebounded St. Mary's,
16-14, in the first 20 minutes.
The Seahawks surged out of the gates once again and scored the
first eight points of the half to assume a 43-40 edge. Later,
sophomore Anthony Bennett drilled a clutch trey to regain a 45-43
lead for the Blazers. With 13:51 remaining, Valdez Preston was
fouled on a three-point attempt and converted all three shots from
the line to give the Seahawks a 51-49 advantage. But sophomore Ryan
Junghans buried his first three-pointer of the contest on Hood's
next possession to ignite an 11-0 run which gave the Blazers a
60-51 lead midway through the stanza.
St. Mary's closed to within four on two occasions but the
Blazers never surrendered their lead and nailed 7-of-10 from the
charity stripe over the final 1:14.
Gutekunst converted 12-of-21 from the field and was 4-for-4 from
the free throw line. Junghans led all scorers with 31 points and
hit 10-of-12 from the line. Bennett provided an offensive spark off
the bench with 10 points.
Lesesne led the Seahawks with 21 points while Alex Irmer matched
career-highs in points (20) and rebounds (11).
The Blazers will host the Cardinals at 7 p.m. Saturday with the
winner earning an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III
Tournament.
